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Even Sweden Has Realized the Faults With Socialized Medicine
by Jaxhawk http://bp2.blogger.com/_sHBfjVGSFJA/RvvmPSx4YVI/AAAAAAAABho/fcqXBwVWm-s/s1600-h/107congress-full.jpg One of the pillars of all Democrat aspirants for the nomination of the party's candidate for President in 2008 has been "universal Health Care". A nice sounding phrase that dis guises the horrors of socialized medicine. Even some of the non-candidates have started the quest to pass socialized medicine. One of the most recent and probably most ridiculous example of how Democrats think is that offered today by Congressman John Dingell(Dem. of Mich.). His bill would impose a 50Cent additional tax on gasoline, kerosene and jet fuel. He also talks about a "carbon tax" to reduce U.S. consumption of energy. He postulates that the money confiscated by the new tax will help fund "universal health care", and for good measure he throws in an unspecified amount to fund the Earned Income tax Credit. This is the money given to people who pay no taxes, so where the word "earned" comes in I will never understand! It is nothing less than taking from those who earned and giving it to those who have not! While this is going on the Country which is always pointed to in conversations about the Great Benefits of Socialized Medicine, Sweden, has begun privatization of their failing system of Socialized Medicine. The following is an except from The National Center For Policy Analysis (NCPA) in August of 2001, that I am sure was never publicized in the U.S. or mentioned by the Socialist Media. "For decades, Stockholm relied on an under performing civic health service monopoly characterized by long waiting lists, chronic overspending and flagging quality. Since the experiment began, virtually every sector of Stockholm’s health system has undergone some form of privatization: Initially, the experiment included 150 private providers who were licensed to compete for health service contracts. The contractors were originally allowed to compete for contracts in the non-medical services, technical services, ambulatory services, small hospital, home care and nursing home sectors. In 1998 the Council began the gradual privatization of all primary care. In 1999 St. Göran’s, one of Sweden’s largest hospitals, was sold to the private company Capio AB.By the end of the experiment’s first five years, all but one of the original 150 private contractors had survived and were flourishing. Likewise, by the end of the first year of its privatization, St. Göran’s had shown significant improvements over its performance as a public facility. Controlling Costs with Markets. A study conducted for the Stockholm government compared the costs of services in six medical specialties between physicians in 40 private practices and 20 public hospital outpatient clinics, and found the cost per consultation to be lower in private practice. For example: In ophthalmology, costs in the public sector were 28 percent higher. Among ear, nose and throat specialists, costs were 17 percent higher. In general surgery, internal medicine and dermatology, costs averaged 13 percent higher.In addition, private nursing home costs have fallen 30 percent, and the costs of care among private specialists have been cut by 40 percent. Savings have been even more dramatic in the hospital sector. At St. Göran’s, costs for lab and X-ray services, for example, have fallen by 50 percent, and overall costs are down 30 percent. For many types of treatment, doctors in the private sector have reduced expenses to levels 15 percent lower than the same procedures would cost in the public sector. Setting New Performance Benchmarks. One result of decentralizing and divorcing health care providers from bureaucratic control in Stockholm has been that private sector companies have been able to introduce simple, professional management structures that enable doctors to spend less time on paperwork and more time with patients. This change has, in turn, increased productivity in several key areas. Most importantly, it has drastically reduced waiting times for treatment by increasing the number of patients being served. For example, as the figure shows, at St. Göran’s: http://bp0.blogger.com/_sHBfjVGSFJA/RvvmPyx4YWI/AAAAAAAABhw/ax5rxLfiaiE/s1600-h/clinton_obama1.jpg The average wait for heart surgery is two weeks, compared to 15 - 25 weeks in Sweden’s average public sector hospital. The average wait for hip replacement surgery is 10 weeks, compared to more than a year in the average public hospital.No longer hampered by public system restraints, St. Göran’s is now treating an average of 100,000 more patients each year than it did as a public hospital - but using fewer resources. As a result of St. Göran’s success, the Council now has formal plans to sell all seven remaining public emergency hospitals in Stockholm to private investors". I had personal experience with the horrors of Socialized Medicine in Italy, where even foreigners pay nothing--and they get nothing in the way of care also. Those who read my column aka blog can remember it was a near death experience--all for free! Americans seem to believe we can" have our cake and eat it too"! But socialism does nothing for the individual, and collectively it has failed all over the world, Will We be stupid enough to elect a man or woman president who promises "pie in the sky" but will give us long lines and lousy service? It is no accident that heads of State from all over the world come to the U.S. for care when then need treatment to save their lives. Yes, it is expensive, but everything good is expensive. We need to find a way to treat those who have no insurance, even if it is establishing second class facilities that give life saving and basic care to all in need, but offer none of the frills found in today's private hospitals, Don't let power hungry politicians ruin one more private enterprise that is the envy of the World. Our Medical system. If we can put a man on the moon we might be able to figure out how to take care of the uninsured. One way would be to stop paying for the millions of abortions being done here in the United States and stop paying for contraceptives in foreign countries. But that would offend the sensibilities of the feminists, and we must not do that! Posted by BILL at Thursday, September 27, 2007 0 __NOEDITSECTION__ Category: Opinions Category: Opinions by User Jaxhawk Category: September 27, 2007 Category: MEDICINE SWEDEN DEMOCRATS SOCIALISM Opinions From The Opinion Wiki, a Wikia wiki. From The Opinion Wiki, a Wikia wiki.